Hatching Eggs

I mentioned previously that I bought a second hand incubator. It arrived (after a bit of a delay & I thought I had done my money) but with no instructions (as promised by the seller). There were no responses to emails sent asking for instructions, so I finally contacted the company that sells the units and they faxed us some instructions.



I arranged to obtain some fertile eggs from a generous member of Backyard Poultry and I thought I would be going great guns hatching eggs!!!!



Lucky for me I tested the incubator prior to getting the eggs, and it wouldn't work properly - it kept getting way too hot 40 deg + and wouldn't hold temperature. It wouldn't cool down when the temp was reduced. These problems would kill all the eggs. What a nightmare.



So Greg took it into his work and one of the guys looked at it - it was broken. Greg bought the parts and they fixed it this morning and Greg tested it all day today and it is working fine. I feel a bit sad that possibly someone tried to rip me off - the guy who fixed it said it would have been broken since it was manufactured - but they said it worked great. Hmmmm, oh well at least it is going now.



So tonight, I set the 12 fertile eggs that I got on Sunday night. Very exciting!!! So, in 21 days (fingers & toes crossed) we should have babies!!! Will keep you updated with the progress.



At the moment, I have to turn the eggs at least 2x per day and keep the little water container topped up, oh and make sure the incubator stays at 37.7 deg. Not too exciting but thats what needs to be done.

The Brooder box - not pretty but does a great job (its not fnished yet but is functional)

Lacey the chooks is still sick but is hanging in there. The bird vet is in on Thursday so I will take her in then. We have her in the brooder box in the garage which is nice and warm for her. This will be where the babies will be until big enough to go into a normal pen. It is pouring rain and wintery here at the moment so it is the best place for her. She is dry, warm and in a quiet place. We are continuing with the antibiotics until we see the vet on Thursday.


Our main computer is down at the moment with a bad virus. I have to load pics with the other machine as this one doesn't have a card reader. Will do this tonight.

Good news & Bad news

Quick update today - Good news - Martin's father has been found and is ok. He is in hospital in NZ. Details are sketchy as to what happened, but it seems he drove to Christchurch and then who knows from there. He is not hurt and the car is fine.

Just glad he is found and ok.

Sadly, Lacey is very sick today and we have her in a box in the garage. Alex will take her to the vets tomorrow to see what they can do for her. Will update when I know more.

Very very worrying news today

My sister called me today with some extremely terrible news. Her husband, Martin, his father (so Nats father in law) has gone missing in New Zealand.

They (Martin's mum and dad) went to a wedding last night and were due to fly back to Sydney this morning. Martins mum left the wedding with their friends, while Martins dad partied on a bit more. He never returned to the motel room & they don't know where he is. He had the tickets & passports & the police say the passport has not been used. He also had the hire car.

It will now be 24 hours since he has been seen. He doesn't have a mobile phone or anything.

The town is only a small town with 2 police, on a lake. It was being broadcast on the news and tomorrow there will be a search for him and the car. Martins brother few out of Sydney tonight & I think that Natalie & Martin will possibly be going over tomorrow.

I feel sick (and I have chatted to my mum & she feels the same) to my stomach about this.

Our thoughts are with Martins family........................

We are also having computer problems as a bad virus has wiped out our main computer, but I will continue to update from one of the other ones.

Testing the Incubator

I mentioned on previous posts that I had bought an incubator. Initially, I thought I had done my money as it didn't show up and the seller wasn't responding to my emails but then I got a response (they were away) and that they didn't send the package when they said they would so that was the reason for the delay.

So I got it a couple of weeks ago, however when I opened the package there were no instructions on how to use it. I specifically asked about instructions when I was considering buying it because I have no experience in incubating eggs. With the promise of "instructions and extra information" I went ahead. Sadly, the person did not respond to any of my emails asking for the instructions, so I rang the distributor and they faxed through some operating instructions YAY!!

I am getting some fertile eggs on Sunday so today I am getting the incubator ready for use. Hmmm, it was full of dust and dead blowflies yuk - there is a cage bit at the top where the fan and electricals are. I got about 9 blowflies out of here (they were stuck in the cage part) and there were about 5 in the bottom of the incubator yuk yuk yuk. It is very dusty so I have given it a good clean and now I have to set the temperature.

No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the temp to work. It mainly ran too hot - was up to 44 deg and would not reduce - this would absolutely cook the eggs and kill them. Greg came home and cleaned it out fully but it didn't do anything to change the temperature problems. He took it into work and one of the electrical engineers took a look & they did some testing.

It's faulty - I thought it was the thermometer but it is the circuitrey of the unit. To things are faulty and not allowing the heating of the unit to work correctly. The guy that looked at it indicated that it was probably like that from when it was bought (a manufacturing/production problem). Hmmmmmmm well the person who sold it to me said on their ad that they had an 85% hatch rate using it. Either they were not telling the truth or it broke after they used it???

I will never know, but with $20 worth of parts, he will fix it (hopefully) on Tuesday or Wednesday and I will be able to set my eggs after that!!! I will keep everyone updated on the progress of this...........

Today was Jemma's school fete. We won a prize on the chocolate wheel - a term of swimming lessons - which is a great prize (a few people were after it, how lucky am I). It was a great fete, I took along some Baby Carrot Cakes (11 - had to test one to make sure they wern't gross hehe) and am happy to say they all got sold quickly!!! They were nice too.

Here is a pic of Jem on a jumping thing (sorry not sure what it is called). She had a ball, went on lots of rides, we ate lots of sausage sangas, drink and she did craft etc. I bid on a quilt but don't think I will win it as a lady told me it was hers!!!! oh well, maybe next time hehe

Update on Lacey the chook. Yesterday, I was pretty sure she wasn't going to make it. We started antibiotics on Thursday night (from the vet - I sent an email and she said it is either fungal or bacterial - so we commenced with bacterial antibiotic). Last night (Friday night) Greg and I gave her her antibiotics (dose is am and pm) and she didn't seem good at all & had lost 50g in weight too. I had checked her all day and she wasn't good - very depressed looking, not moving around much etc.

BUT today - WOW - she is walking really well, very lively and I haven't heard her crowing. We quickly gave her the antibiotics this morning and went to the fete (I was amazed she was still alive really). She seems a LOT better this afternoon - fingers crossed she gets better.

Donut the dog has a sore leg though..........WILL IT NEVER END???? It's not bad but she is limping a little bit. We are not too worried at the moment - hopefully it will resolve itself. She probably did it playing with Poppy....................

What next???? :-)

My day

Today was a lovely day - the sun was shining and it was lovely. It got a bit hot later in the afternoon but overall it was a lovely day. I got the washing dry and now (tonight at 8.30pm) in Sydney a storm is coming, thunder is rumbling and it is starting to lightly rain. It is starting to cool down now.

Today I made Michael some pureed apple and pear, which he loves. For dinner tonight he had pear with custard that I made today. He had never had custard but he loved it. Learning to eat is a messy business!!!!

I made some banana muffins yesterday as I had some left over bananas that were going off. They were nice, but to me a little bit bland. I tried a different recipe today and these ones are much nicer - they had cinnamon and bicarb soda added and it seemed to make a difference (I even think they could have a bit more cinnamon added). I had 2 for lunch - yummy. With a cream cheese icing they would be devine........





Michael watched me making the muffins - happy boy!!!






Dinner tonight was chicken, bacon & mushroom risotto. This is a really really frugal and easy dinner. I use 1 chicken breast fillet and 2 rashers of bacon. It feeds 4 of us (and we are big eaters) and 1 meal leftover for lunch.






Chicken Risotto



Put 8 cups of water & add approx 6-7 stock cubes or teaspoons of stock to the water and put on the boil.


Dice finely the chicken, bacon and slice the mushrooms (you can add whatever you like here)


Fry the chicken, bacon & mushrooms in some oil and then remove onto a plate


Put some more oil in the frypan


Put 2 cups of arborio rice in the frypan - stir it around to coat the rice in the oil


Add 1 cup at a time of the hot stock, adding a cup when it is absorbed


STIR IT REGULARLY/CONSTANTLY

When you are down to the last cup of stock, add the chicken mix back in and then put in the stock.

Its done when it is absorbed. You can then put some parmasan cheese in if you like. I don't usually have it so don't worry.

Honey having a sleep on the lounge tonight

Well it is nearly 9pm now and we are all winding down for the night. The kids are in bed, dishes done and Greg and I can relax a bit.

Squishy rolling around on the table

Sadly, Lacy the hen is still doing the crowing noise and is not right. Today I had another good look at her and she is still sounding crackly with her breathing. She doesn't seem 100% right either - she is not as lively as the other hens. I spoke to my sister & she is going to chat to the bird vet at her work and see if she has any ideas. Maybe a broad sprectrum antibiotic will fix her, but if not I think she will be better put out of her misery............. :-(

Browney and Lacey

Are we headed for a recession?

Frizzy the frizzle

I think that the question - Are we headed for a recession? - is pretty relevant at the moment. When I was going to the Baby Health Clinic Mothers Group (about 3 months ago), a couple of the new mums who went along, their husbands had lost their jobs. That was pretty scary, considering they had 6 week or so old babies.

I found out last week that my neighbour lost his job about 6 weeks ago (he was in mining & would have been quite high up). My ex-partner, Roger, at his work the factory workers overtime has been cut and everyone in the office (including him - senior mgt) is down to a 4 day week & 1 day annual leave. This is a manufacturing company.

Making sausage rolls for a snack

Another girl from mothers group, her husband has gone to 4 days per week to try and keep his job. I think Gregs work is ok at the moment and I'm in government so not sure how it will impact them.

So this is happening all around me but I also notice that the takeaway shops around here are still doing really good trade and the shops seem to be going ok from what I saw on Saturday when we were there (Hornsby Westfield). I went to Crows Nest today and my sister, Alex and I had lunch at a cafe. The cafe was really busy and it wasn't a cheap one.

Soap I made

I think that things may get pretty bad. I don't want to be doom and gloom but I think we lag behind USA a bit and it is coming. I hope it won't be as bad for us as it is for them and I don't think it will - but you never know do you?

Lucky for me (my family) I am already pretty good with the $$. We could be A LOT better but we (or I hehe) am careful. WHY? - because you never know what is around the corner eg the $$ with Cody is a classic example of why I am careful. If we didn't have the money then Cody would have to have been put down and that wouldn't have been a nice decision to make at all.

Little things often make it easy to save money. Some examples are:

• taking your lunch to work


• putting you washing on the line and not in the dryer


• turning off lights when not in the room


• turning off your computer when you're not using it


• cooking your meals from scratch & menu plan


• not shopping for "stuff" (stay away from the shops)


• trying not to buy the latest and greatest of everything


• not buying a coffee every day (eg wait till you get home to have one or make your own)

All these little things add up to big savings, they really do and they are not too hard to do.

If you have a mortgage, pay off extra so you get in advance. This benefits two ways - if things get bad you will have a bit of a buffer and it will reduce the interest you pay too. If you pay rent, maybe pay a bit extra so if an unexpected bill comes in or if something bad happens you have a buffer of not have to pay your rent for that week or how ever much you are in advance.

These are just a couple of things that can be done in the short term to offer you a bit of a buffer in your finances.

Something to think about.................................

Oh, Cody and Lacy are doing well.........thank goodness :-)

Chook and Cat update

This is Lacy, the chook that was sick, isn't she cute with her 'lacy' neck. She is a silky x

Good news on both fronts - Cody was fine and is back to normal meds and normal personality. The chook seemed a lot better yesterday - hardly any crackly breathing and just doing the "crowing" noise occassionally (and I checked on Backyard Poultry and SHE is definately a SHE YAY). However this has been a VERY expensive week $1600 on Cody and another $60 on the chook for meds (although will do all chooks) - **sigh**, plus we bought some things we needed for bubby etc.

I was discussing the chook situation with a fellow chook lover but much more expert than me on Backyard Poultry. After monitoring the situation we decided to put the chook, who I am now naming Lacy, on a treatment for coccidiosis. Coccidiosis is a disease which can kill chooks very easily as it does something very bad to their intestines. It can be very easily spread through the whole flock so I am putting them all on the medication (via their water - Sulpha-Quin).

The upside of this is that hopefully they will all be ok, the downside is that following treatment (5 days) we will have to wait another 2 weeks before we can eat any eggs **sob** so we have to chuck out Browney's eggs. But this is a preferred option to having dead chooks!!! Thinking back there have been some blood tinged poop's in the coop since I got them (not the new ones from the produce store and Roger), which I didn't really connect or think about too much, but now it is all coming together with the sick one and better to be safe than sorry.

I guess I am lucky, in 10yrs of owing chooks, I have NEVER experienced this. I'm guessing that it has come from the guy who I got the chooks from. In hindsight I think the little chick had it (I have seen some info on Backyard Poultry and the chick definately had the look which is typical cocci) and he did have some dead chooks in his pens - Jemma found one and also some sick ones. He had SO many chooks though (I think 100's) - I guess with so many it would be inevitable really.

The good news is that the chooks all seem in really good health including the sick one so fingers crossed everything will be ok now. Following this treatment, I will worm them and give them a vitamin boost so they will be at optimum health, hopefully for when they all start laying!!!

Sickness all around me...*sigh*

Well what a day today. Firstly Greg and I gave Cody all his medications.......hmmm its like a chemist shop here. We had to give them 1 hour earlier than we should have as we were going out. Done!! (he had to take about 5 different meds!! that was FUN)

Anyway we get a phone call from Alex - "Have you given Cody his meds, cause I just gave them to him?" It might have been better if she had called us BEFORE she gave him the meds & can I just say this is the first time she has been out of bed before lunchtime!!! Alex tells me to come home, take Cody to the vets cause he has overdosed on his meds. Ummmm NO NO NO - no more $$$ will be spent as this is getting out of contol. We just can't afford this anymore.

When we returned, she had called the vets and we just have to monitor him all day. He seems ok and we will re-medicate tomorrow morning.

So today is the day that I clean out the Chick Inn. I noticed one of our silky x hens was seemingly crowing like a rooster occassionally :-( It sounded like it was just learning to crow and i was thinking I would have to get the axe out.

Anyway as I cleaned out the pen, I noticed that I could hear her breathing - it sounded crackly when she breathed. OH NO I HAVE A SICK CHOOK NOW!!!! I will keep an eye on her. I went on Backyard Poultry and asked a question about what to do and a lovely lady on there is helping me. Tomorrow I will go to the produce store and get some meds for them. Hopefully it doesn't spread and hopefully she will get better. I will check her crop tomorrow and also check down her throat and keep checking back with the experts on Backyard Poultry. I guess if it spreads or gets much worse then I will need to go to the vets.................**sob**$$$$$$$**sob**

Also, Michael is reacting to his vaccination - getting a bit of a fever and grizzly. Panadol has helped - poor little bubba, but he was quite miserable today. I hope he is feeling better tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was quiche - ham and cheese (see recipe on previous posts). I used that HUGE egg that Browney laid and it was a double yolker hehe. I didn't have any pastry so I made some and it was really nice (just as good as bought) and really really easy.

Quiche Pastry

190g plain flour

60g cold butter

Pinch of salt

Cold water (no set amount, just put a bit in at a time)

Put butter, flour, salt in food processor. Mix on high until mixture looks like bread crumbs.

Mix again on slow, adding enough cold water to make into a dough.

Remove from food processor and knead lightly on a floured surface.

Roll the pastry out into a circle big enough to fit your quiche dish and put it in.

Fill with filling & egg mix and put into oven at 180deg C for 40mins or so until cooked.

Easy and yummy.

Alex and Troy are going to a fancy dress 21st tonight. It is a movie theme. Alex is Sandy from Grease and Troy is a Storm Trooper from Starwars (he wanted to go as Darth Vader but someone else was going as Darth Vader). They looked great!!!

Cody is home

Well today I went and picked up Cody from the vets (umm $1600.00 lighter incl staff discount). He has a blood condition, a heart condition and an infection in his eye. He will be on medication for the rest of his life and his life will be greatly shortened (due to the heart problem) BUT he is back at home again which is great.

I had a very busy few days, yesterday I minded one of the little babies from mothers group for a couple of hours and today I met some friends for lunch, Michael got his 6month vaccinations and then went to pick up Cody.

I'm glad that I don't work near or in the city. It took us nearly 1.5hours to get home (would have been quicker on the train) in peak hour traffic. Luckily Michael hadn't slept today so crashed out in the car on the way home.

Here is a photo of the egg that Browney (Isa Brown) layed today. It is HUGE. To see how huge I put it against the egg she layed yesterday. It is about double the size of a normal egg. I bet it is a double yolker!!! I have to say that Browney is a really friendly chook with us - she is the boss of the hen house, but doesn't mind a pat from us. She is our most friendly chook. I was sure she was having a moult but she is laying like a trooper - I think she must love her new abode (and she is very spoilt hehe). I also don't think she is a young chook either. Go Browney. Unfortunately no one else is laying yet but hopefully in the next few weeks or so.

We have EGGS!!!

Just had to share - we got an egg yesterday from Browny YAY and then I just checked and we have another egg - so 2 eggs in two days.

I thought she was going through a moult and she looks a bit scungy but wow what a layer she is. I think she is very happy in her new chicken run :-) Greg has done such a great job. Here they all are at night - so cute!!!

Sadly, Cody is still in hospital, he has been referred to the specialist now. Unfortunately, he also has a heart condition as well as the blood disorder. This means he will be on medication for the rest of his life, which will probably be a lot shorter than what we originally would have expected - maybe 2 months, maybe 2 years - who knows. My last Rex, Savannah - who was a Devon Rex, had a similar condition but much much worse. She also was terrible at taking medication and her condition came back (after spending approx 2.5K) after 2 weeks and I had to get her put to sleep.

Once his meds are on track and his blood gets back, then we can bring him home.

Poor Cody & getting a rescue animal

This is Cody, our chocolate & white rex cat

Cody, our Cornish Rex cat is still in hospital at North Shore Vet clinic. He has a big worded problem that basically in English is that he body is killing off his red blood cells. It would be fatal if not treated but they can treat it with medcation. He hasn't needed a blood transfusion yet (fingers crossed) and hopfully will improve before he needs one. Keep fighting Cody!!!

This is Squishy on the fridge, her favourite spot for a pat!!




I am a very firm believer in rescue animals - all our animals are rescue animals. Did you know that millions of innocent animals are killed every year because no one "wanted" them anymore? It is terrible that this happens and that it can be avoided so easily. EVERYONE should desex their pets - easy - but it seems that some people want to breed their pets or show their kids the miracle of babies or have some other obscure reason to allow their animal to have babies.


The sad reality from all these warm fuzzy babies is that they grow up into not so cute animals that people become bored of and leave in the backyard, allow them to breed, then dump them somewhere (if lucky at the pound) and then no one else wants them so they are killed.


Poppy & Donut with Jemma




And it happens with pure breed animals too - we have 2 pure bred cats - a Persian, Squishy and Cornish Rex, Cody. Both Squishy and Cody were not wanted by their owners once they were not little kittens anymore. Squishy was found in the gutter by someone!!! No one came looking for her.


Our doggies - Poppy and Donut are ex pet shop puppies. They would have been really cute little fluff balls as puppies, but both found themselves in the pound at about 9-10months old - and both would have been killed if they hadn't gone to a rescue operation.



If you are thinking about getting a pet, think about getting a rescue animal. And whatever pet you get, please get it desexed ASAP. If you can't afford to do this then you can't really afford to have a pet yet.

Pets cost money, when you least expect it too!! Cody will be costing over $1000 - its just the way it is.........................

Jemma's Birthday Dinner

Last night we went to a Teppanyaki restaurant - SAKA - at Crows Nest for Jemma's birthday dinner. This is what Jem wanted. It was a great night - yummy food and it is always great entertainment.

Then after, we had coffee and cake back at home. I made the cake, using my Lush Chocolate cake recipe (see other posts under recipe) and marshmallows and smarties.

Poor Cody, our Cornish Rex rescue cat is sick. He has been off his food for about 4 days now and not drinking either. He is VERY lethargic. This is so not Cornish Rex or Cody's behaviour - something is seriously wrong with him. I am taking him to where Natalie and Alex work - North Shore Vet Clinic at 1pm today. NSVC is a specialist vet at Crows Nest and I know he will get the VERY best care there - 24/7. Nat has worked there for about 15years - they are experts and I would trust no other vet with my animals. The downside is - you pay for it - but these animals are our family. I hope it is not bad news.....................

Something must be in the air, Nat and Martin couldn't come to Teppanyaki as Nats cat, Forrest had a choking fit and passed out. She didn't even have time to take him to North Shore, she raced him to Gladesville Vet as it was closest. I hope he is ok.

The new chooks

Here is a picture of our new chooks. The two black ones I got from Dural Stockfeeds as laying hens (although they are not laying yet, but it should be soon). They are Barter Blacks (Australorp x Rhode Island Red) and should be good layers. The Isa Brown (Browny) and the silky are from Jemma's Dad, Roger. Unfortunately, I think silky and Browny are moulting so no eggs from them.





They are all getting along very well. Browny rules the roost, which I expected, being an Isa. I didn't want an Isa Brown but because she is the only one, it is ok and she can be the boss. If you get a few together, they can bully some of the little hens which isn't good at all.





I haven't got my incubator yet - hopefully I will get it on Monday as the person I got it off said they were sending it on Wednesday - fingers crossed.





A really frugal meal, if you have lots of eggs, is a quiche. It is really easy and yummy. This is how I do it.....

• Put oven on to 180 degrees C



• In a quiche dish put 2 sheets of puff pastry (or you can make your own pastry)



• Then put about 5 eggs in a bowl and mix them



• Then put some milk in (maybe about 2+ cups) and stir (I use powdered milk - skim is fine)



• In the quiche dish, with the pastry, put in some chopped up - ham, bacon, mushrooms, capsicum, cooked potato sliced, onion - basically whatever you want!!! and then some grated cheese (my kids love ham and cheese)



• Pour over the milk and egg and put in the oven for about 30mins

I serve with a green salad and some corn on the cob. Went down a treat.

Enjoy :-)

Little Michael having a bath

What's for dinner?

Last night I made Macaroni Cheese for dinner. It is a staple in our house and when I was growing up as a kid. It is one of those meals which is a family favourite, it is cheap, easy to prepare, quick, tasty and we always have leftovers (which taste yummy for lunch the next day).

The sauce is a cheese sauce, which is a white sauce with cheese added. I can't make white sauce using flour & butter. It NEVER works for me. I use this bulk white sauce mix and it ALWAYS works!!! YAY

White Sauce Mix

2 Cups (500g) powdered milk (skim is fine)

1 Cup (250g) plain flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 Cup (250g) butter or marg (chopped)

Combine all dry ingredients

Add butter and blend in food processor until it looks like dry breadcrumbs

Put in container and keep for up to 2 months in the fridge.

To make sauce

1/2 Cup mix

1 Cup water

Heat and add cheese (or whatever you like to the white sauce) EASY

Macaroni Cheese

Boil 500g pasta until cooked.

Meanwhile make 2 cups of the white sauce (so 1 cup mix to 2 cups water) adding cheese to taste (couple of handfuls)

Put cooked pasta in dish and stir through cheese sauce

Sprinke with more grated cheese and sprinke with chopped bacon

Put under griller until cheese is melted and bacon crispy

YUM and EASY

This week I got some fruit and veg delivered (see above) - to try something differet. I thought I would try and support a little business and also it would be easier for me rather than trying to take bubs to the fruit shop. Coles and IGA don't have all that good F&V really.

I emailed a localish company. They sent me the list. I had some questions re ordering and called them on Thursday but no one answered so I left a message for someone to call me back. Unfortunately no one did so I called again on Monday (as order deadline was Tuesday) and also sent an email. Unfortunately no one again called me back but they did respond to my email regarding quantities. I really would have preferred to discuss it with someone but was not calling again.

I got the box on Wednesday and was very happy.....until I went to make a salad..... no lettuce. I had to go up to the IGA and buy one. I emailed them to see if it was an oversight (these things can happen of course) & they advised no it wasn't - the iceburg lettuce was of not good quality so they didn't have any and I didn't specify and alternative so I didn't get it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sadly, Greg & the kids don't eat any other type of lettuce & I wasn't made aware that I may not get what I ask for in the box - so I will not be ordering this again. Going up to the shop defeats the purpose of purchasing a box of F&V doesn't it. What a shame..................

Knit Along

Jemma giving Michael some pear for breakfast this morning

Rhonda Jean from Down To Earth blog is doing a knit along. A fantastic fun thing to do and I have joined!!! Basically everyone, from all over the world, is knitting squares to make into a blanket (or what ever you want). I am making a blanket for the car - oh not for "the" car literally hehe but to be kept in the car for the kids to snuggle in to for long car trips.



I have a bit of yarn that I have collected from op shops and probably bought a few balls. I decided that the main colour of the snuggle blanket will be purple and white as I have a fair amount of these colours. I also did a beginners crochet course a couple of years ago too and had made a number of 'granny squares'.



I love crochet (probably more than knitting) - It reminds me of my Great Grandmother - Gan - who taught me to crochet when I was a little kid (but I forgot so went to the course to learn again). Gan used to crochet and knit singlets and socks and all sorts of stuff for the 'poor kids in Africa' - she used to give these to the missionaries and they went over there (sadly to convert these poor souls to christianity and totally disregard their culture) but she had all good intentions. Unfortunately for me, crochet seems to give me terrible pain in my hands, wrist and arm. I have tried and tried different ways of holding the hook and yarn but sadly it still gives me pain. When I knit, I have no pain and I do enjoy it - so that is life. I can crochet a few granny squares but then have to stop, due to the pain.




Anyway here is what I have done so far - the crochet was already done previously. The fluffy square was done with normal yarn and some of that fluffy yarn together. NEVER AGAIN!!! I don't know how people knit with the stuff??? It took me 4 nights to do that one square grrrr - usually it takes about 1 night for a square. Does anyone else have issues knitting with that fluffy yarn?? Am I doing something wrong?? I love the look but OMG it was so hard to knit with.



The stripey one is just plain knit 6 rows and then change colour. The not yet finished one is knit 6 rows and then change colour and stocking stitch (knit 1 row - purl 1 row) 6 rows.



I do my knitting at night after the kids are in bed and I go to bed and knit until lights out at 10.30pm hehe. I'm having fun.

I now have 10 chooks - & an incubator on its way!!!

OMG I now have 10 chooks. How you may wonder - well, I decided to get some laying hens because I don't think my little chooks will be laying for a while. So I bought 2 laying hens from the produce shop (but they are not quite old enough to lay yet hmmm). Then Roger (Jemma's Dad) offered me 2 of his laying hens as he said he had too many - so all of a sudden I have 10 chooks!!! I better get an egg tomorrow (didn't get one today grrrrr).

Yesterday it POURED down in the afternoon - and all night. Although the rain is great, not quite that much is good. The poor chooks were soaked ('cause they went into the rain ?) but they were nice and dry in their coop. I was going to take some photos of the new additions but that will have to wait until it fines up a bit.

I took a photo of Victor - my cat. Every night he sleeps at the end of the bed at my feet. I got him to be a friend to Squishy our persian cat. He was a tiny little kitten from the Animal Welfare League and had cat flu when I got him home. He has grown into a fine looking healthy cat. We let him outside during the day but all our animals are inside at night. He is one of the most friendly, laid back cats you could ever know. He loves his tummy being rubbed and also makes himself at home at the neighbours (they love him too).

Today is Jemmas 8th Birthday (she is in bed now and I forgot to get a photo of her). Happy Birthday baby girl - I can't believe 8 years has gone so quick. Mum loves you HEAPS !!!!! I will take a photo tomorrow of Jemma and Michael.

Growing up

Little Michael is now 6 months old, gosh time goes quick. He is very cute and mostly a pretty good little baby. I met a good friend of mine today, Nicole, and we had lunch. Her daughter is 3 now and in 7 months has grown up SO much - she is a real little girl now.

I was going to get Jemma a couple of chicks as her other little one died on Monday. After a bit of thought I decided to buy a little incubator and we can hatch some eggs. A person had one advertised on Farmstock and I emailed them yesterday. It was still available so I got it. I asked Mum if she could swap some eggs with her neighbour (who has roosters) and I will put some eggs in it when I get it. I will post the progress!!! Very exciting hehehe

The chookies are going well, chooking around. A person on BYP gave us a tip to paint the silver wire black and it will disappear. Well Greg gave it a go this morning and amazingly, like magic the silver disappeared and it seemed you could not see any wire - AMAZING. The next weekend job will be to do this to all the wire.

I love chooks - and I think everyone should have a few hens in their backyard (but only if they look after them!!). Why?? Because they are great little pets. They don't cost much to feed, you can feed them your scraps, they give you eggs for breakfast and then put their poop into the garden or compost. And you can eat them if you are so inclined (eg the roosters in suburbia). Oh and they are really really relaxing to watch.

Maybe if things keep getting bad economically then more people may consider getting chooks. This is a good thing because that mean that hopefully less chooks will be put into cages.

You can help get hens out of cages: CHOOSE WISELY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIpJAurZz54

YAY - I have a hen house!!!

Well we both worked very very very hard on the weekend to get "The Chick Inn" ready. Greg really worked his butt off to get it done for the new arrivals, but it is done (well about 95%). It still needs some cosmetic features completed but is very functional.

I went to Newcastle (about 2 hrs from me) to get some x-breed chickens from a man that was advertising on Farmstock and BYP. I stopped in at Mum and Dads place first and had some lunch which was lovely and picked up Jemma, who had stayed over for the night.

The chook man at Newcastle was really lovely and I got 6 bantam chooks - mainly silky x's and a frizzle x pekin (my fav breed - frizzle). They aren't laying eggs yet as they mostly are still babies but hopefully they will one day LOL (oh and we hope they are all hens!!!). I told Jemma she could pick her very own chook. Of course she didn't like any in the x-breed pen - she wanted to look at the babies (he had a few).

She picked up a tiny little chick and wanted it. The man said she could have it but to me it looked a bit sickly (it was the only little baby in the pen - the other chicks were much bigger). I told Jem that but she wanted it. Sadly yesterday afternoon I came home from lunch with the girls and it was half dead looking (it didn't seem right all the time we had it, which was less than 24hrs). I tried to eye-drop feed it some water and it perked up a little but died about 30mins later in my hands.

I had the fun job of telling Jem after school yesterday. She was SO upset. Anyway, I promised her I would get her 2 new chicks and she was a bit happier. I have advertised on Farmstock for anyone who has 2 chicks but if no one can help I can go to Enfield produce and get sexed dayolds for $4.50ea. At least we know we are getting a hen and they will be good layers brought up with the little ones - which means less problems in the future (hopefully).

Anyway that is what is happening at the moment. Little Michael is loving solids a lot. He is 6 months now - time flies.